We were lucky to catch up with Hillary Hawkins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hillary, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
I’ve been a girl in a room full of boys when training in the martial arts and mainly have learned not to give up. It seems my perseverance paid off as I now hold a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Fusion Kenpo, another Black Belt in Chinese Kenpo and am currently training in American Style Nunchaku. Yes, girls can swing nunchucks too!
As a child actor, I was often a kid working with adults and it was great! Not sure I even paid much attention to the fact that I was little and they were big lol I just know that I loved (and still love!!) everyone so much and was there to do what I love! Love leads to SUCCESS!
Now technically an adult, I’ve somehow managed to maintain my short stature lol and it has come in handy especially on stage when casting directors are looking for 18+ to play younger actors; I’m a shoo-in! I’m 5’2” and despite being “little”, when on stage my voice is quite BIG and carries! That has helped me to achieve great success such as booking National Tours and more! The other folks on stage might physically be bigger but it’s the talent that really truly matters. So no matter what you look like, remember your gifts and talents will make room for you… (Proverbs 18:16)
Honestly, I’m right at home being the only one in the room that looks like me. My parents raised me in a neighborhood where nobody looked like me. They sent me to private schools where no one in my class looked like me. I’ve also been cast in numerous productions where I’m the only girl that looks like me. It’s the story of my life…
Check out my book “The Whitest Black Girl You Ever Met” on Amazon for some of the challenges that come along with that and how I overcame them. “The Whitest Black Girl You Ever Met” ranked #1 New Release in 15-Minute Biography & Memoir Short Reads on Amazon and is a true story.
The good news is, my talent does not change based on who is in the room. Whether the people in the room are Red, Yellow, Orange or Pink, Big or Little, I’m bringing my God’s best! Instead of focusing on what the people in the room look like, let’s focus on what God is calling us to do in that room… and how we can hopefully be a blessing.
Prayer is definitely a key to success. A couple other keys to keep with you in that room are Faith and Love.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My brand is pure Love.
When I was Host of Nick Jr. and Radio Disney it was so much fun radiating LOVE and transmitting it so that children and families could be entertained and experience that joy and love. Now I narrate children’s books with Love.
I even play the part of Sunny Love in a series currently available online entitled “Actors Anonymous Hotline.” That’s my baby… It’s a series that addresses some pretty serious social issues, and while Sunny Love is there to help actors in need there are other characters like Wisdom played by DREAM and Spiritual Winter played by Lisa Ulmer that call in on the hotline to show Sunny some Love. Thankful for them and the whole cast of characters.
As a Writer/Producer my mission is to spread Love. Love is taking the time to listen to those in need, taking the time to care… and “Be There For Them”, which happens to be the name of one of my songs.
As a singer songwriter, my albums “Let’s Imagine A World of Love”, “Love Lessons 101”, “Sweet Dreams” & “Love Lessons 102” are rooted in Love. You can look for them on Pandora, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Music and more. My song “Love Can Save A Life” gets to the heart of why Love is so important.
Self-Love and Self-Care are also important… By the grace of God I have narrated over 100 audiobooks, the vast majority of which are spiritual self-help books and I pray they help a lot of people, as much as they’ve helped me and more!! Feel free to visit: https://www.hillaryhawkins.com/audible-audiobooks.html
My Love Mission is Global and my voice is international, available in a wide variety of accents, American, Caribbean & African, just to name a few. And I love singing in different languages! My multilingual vocals are floating around the world wide web in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Swahili & more. Voice acting and singing in different languages is so much fun and being able to connect with people from all over the world is cool! Feel free to visit: www.HillaryHawkins.com for samples of my voice and check out the newly launched site: www.animationvoiceactors.com for some of the cartoon / animation voices I do. I LOVE working on CARTOONS!!
I also LOVE personifying Love! Guess what? I landed the role of Sista Love in a feature film called “Rhapsody in Justice”! Stay tuned for that… Sista Love is Love.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
LOVE is my MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY and as an offshoot of my love comes 3 top skills / areas of knowledge: Creativity, Diversity & Determination, all of which have been helpful in my journey in life.
Love is my Guiding force and it is my belief that we are all here to LOVE. 🙂 It’s such a blessing being able to DO what we LOVE and to BE LOVE!
Let love guide you…
Ask God to show you how you can best be an instrument for His Love…
Love leads me to CREATIVITY. So many actors are just waiting for their next gig, but no need to wait when you can CREATE! In addition to being an actress, I’m a playwright, lyricist, composer, screenwriter, songwriter and producer and it’s VERY fulfilling… Key projects include “Jaded The Musical”, “Stuck For A Reason” & “Actors Anonymous Hotline.”
Being creative is such a gift and a blessing and God willing my creations somehow bless others… ALL OVER THE WORLD!!!
Which leads me to… DIVERSITY!
Diversity has always been important to me. I can remember when I was a student at Professional Children’s School, I founded a group called S.H.A.D.E.S, the School Harmony Association for Different Ethnic Students. While at Smith College in addition to being a member of Nosotras, I was President of the Black Students Alliance. While at Smith, I also was the Diversity Chair at Lawrence House, and have always loved bringing people of different backgrounds TOGETHER.
I was raised in a home where many different accents and even languages were spoken and that diverse upbringing has helped me tremendously in my various lines of work.
Being Bilingual/Multilingual opens some REALLY COOL DOORS. Some of my most meaningful work to date has been as a Bilingual… Worked in Child Protective Services as a Bilingual Family Service Specialist II for the State of New Jersey. I worked for Safe Horizon as a Bilingual Research Assistant / Interviewer. So thankful for Chris S. O’Sullivan, PH.D. who took a chance on me. I know I was really young at the time. But I had and still have the heart for it… By the grace of God, I was able to recruit and interview over 200 victims of domestic violence for a study. Thankful for my then supervisor Melissa White and for all the strong women I got to connect with while working for Safe Horizon. One of the main things my job entailed is listening and that was right up my alley because listening is an act of love.
Are you looking for more ways to grow in diversity? Learn a new language and God can use you to reach even more people with you guessed it, LOVE! 🙂
When you’re ready to embark on your Bilingual / Multilingual journey, here are a few links to some very basic phrases in English, Spanish, Swahili & Japanese to get you started!
https://www.hillaryhawkins.com/swahilikids.html
https://www.hillaryhawkins.com/japanesekids.html
https://www.christianchildrensentertainment.com/biblebabies.html
All cartoons made with Love.
My third key area of knowledge: DETERMINATION. I was going to say Martial Arts but it’s really more so the spiritual component that comes along with being a true Martial Artist that is so very helpful on one’s journey…
Ever since I was like 4 years old I can hear my Sensei saying “To fall seven times is to rise eight times, life starts from now.” We would say it over and over again, it’s like ingrained in our brains! Professor Harry Baker taught us to never give up on our journey in life. So many actors have, but I’m still here… Thanks Professor.
If you are in New Jersey, I would recommend going on over to UFC Gym in Orange to train with Baker’s Red Iron Dragon. I made it into a Star Wars Target Commercial performing martial arts moves Professor Baker taught me. Learn a new skill and that could open up doors for YOU!
Want to learn nunchaku aka nunchucks? My big brother has a fantastic virtual program at www.virtualnunchaku.com He is teaching me! Go to: https://www.hillaryhawkins.com/actressmartialartist-videos.html to see! Hopefully one day I’ll make it in a big movie swinging nunchucks or get to be a Superhero or something! That would be really awesome because Superheroes help make the world a better place and so Superheroes are Love!
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The number one obstacle/challenge I am facing is a secret and I am writing and acting in ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE in effort to resolve/overcome it. Actually, ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE helps in lots of areas… Maybe one day, when everything is resolved and overcome, I’ll be better able to share. This is a great question by the way.
Thank you for the opportunity to share pieces of my story. Peace & Love.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hillaryhawkins.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillaryhawkins
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/HillAHawk
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/HillaryHawkinsLove
